Multiple fires broke out in parts of Russia after an overnight drone barrage that appears to have targeted air bases and military towns.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia said it took down 125 Ukrainian drones in several regions during the night of September 28-29.
Some 67 "Ukrainian aircraft-type UAVs" (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) were "intercepted and destroyed" over the Volgograd region, 17 over the Belgorod region, 17 over the Voronezh region, 18 over the Rostov region, one each over the Bryansk and Kursk regions, one over the Krasnodar Krai territory and three over the waters of the Sea of Azov, it said in a statement on Telegram.
In the Volgograd Region, at least three fires have been recorded near and around an ammunition depot in Kotluban, according to ASTRA, a Russia-Ukraine war reporting Telegram channel, which cited NASA's fire monitoring system FIRMS.
It is unclear whether the facility has been hit but FIRMS shows several active fires in Kotluban over the last 24 hours.
Before this, ASTRA had already received reports from Volgograd residents who said there was a fire in the village of Sady Pridonya, around 30 kilometers from Kotluban.
Several videos purporting to show a fire caused by the drone attack in Kotluban are circulating online but this footage is actually from a 2021 blaze caused by a container explosion on a ship in the port of Jebel Ali, in Dubai, ASTRA found. Ukrainian newspaper Strana also debunked the footage.
The Volgograd region's governor, Andrey Ivanovich Bocharov, said blazes in the area were "dry grass fires caused by falling debris," according to Strana, adding that "they were quickly extinguished by firefighting units" and there were "no casualties or damage to civilian or military facilities."
Head of Kotluban, Igor Davydenko also said there were no casualties or damage in Sady Pridonya.
In the Rostov region, Millerovo air base was attacked, according to reports from military blogging channel @oko_gora, which said its analysis showed "the area adjacent to the airfield is burning" and ASTRA. FIRMS shows several active fires near the air base in the past 24 hours.
Rostov's regional governor, Vasily Golubev, said: "there are no casualties or damage on the ground" in his region, according to ASTRA.
Millerovo, located around 20 miles from Russia's border with Ukraine, was reportedly attacked by Ukrainian drones in July. It was hit but "without significant damage," Russian military blogger, Rybar said at the time.
In Krasnodar Krai, there have been reports of explosions in the coastal military town of Yeysk, where a Russian Navy airfield is located, local Telegram groups seen by ASTRA said.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian Defense Ministries for comment.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
